Alexa agrees to delete records of personal info

PALO ALTO: Alexa Internet, a subsidiary of Amazon.com which tracks Internet

users' surfing patterns, on Friday said it had settled a lawsuit that had

challenged its privacy practices.

San Francisco-based Alexa said that as part of the settlement, it agreed to

delete certain records that might contain personal information and pay up to $40

to class members of the suit whose personally identifiable information is found

it its database.

Alexa's total payments to class members are capped at $1.9 million, under the

agreement. Alexa offers a free service that provides its users with links to

other relevant Web sites and in-depth statistics on the page they visit, based

on the surfing patterns it observes.

Alexa president Brewster Kahle said on Friday that while the company does

watch surfing patterns, it does not link the data it collects with individual

users. He said the company has also made no secret of its practices. Kahle said

the company had agreed to settle the lawsuit "because we thought it was the

best way to get on with our business."

In addition to challenges from individual users, Alexa has also been the

subject of an informal probe by the US Federal Trade Commission, stemming from

allegations that it provided some of the personal data it collected to its

parent company, Amazon, and other parties.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.